Bergamot oil as an integral component of nanostructured lipid carriers and a photosensitizer for photodynamic treatment of vitiligo: Characterization and clinical experimentation

ABSTRACT

Background: Bergamot oil (BO) is a photosensitizer that can be used for photodynamic therapy (PDT) of dermatological diseases such as vitiligo. Being an oil, it can be integrated within the lipidic matrix of nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) as the liquid lipid constituent, hence exhibiting a dual role.

Research design and methods: NLCs were prepared with different emulsifiers and coemulsifiers, and the effect of the preparation method and formulation variables on the NLCs’ size was elucidated. The prepared NLCs were further characterized for their in vitro release, viscosity, thermal behavior, and in vitro photostability. Furthermore, a preclinical photodynamic study on animal skin was conducted, followed by clinical experimentation on patients with vitiligo.

Results: Results showed that BO was successfully incorporated within the NLCs. The selected NLCs formulation was in the nanometer range with a gel consistency, and it provided sustained release of BO for 24 h. NLCs improved the photostability and photodynamic properties of BO, and displayed promising preclinical and clinical results for the topical PDT of vitiligo.

Expert Opinion: BO containing NLCs was proven to be promising means for PDT of vitiligo, and can be further explored in other dermatological diseases.

KEYWORDS:

• Photodynamic therapy
• nlcs
• bergamot oil
• vitiligo

Author contributions

Mai Shaaban: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Formal analysis, and Writing theoriginal draft. Maha Nasr: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Validation, Supervision and Writing, Review and Editing. Abeer Attia: Investigation and Formal analysis Maha Fadel and Omaima Sammour: Data curation, Supervision and Writing, Review and Editing.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Gattefosse’ Company, France and Cargill Company, Germany for their kind supply of chemicals.

Disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.